First year STEM curriculum co-created with Indigenous scientists improves intellectual growth, psychosocial factors associated with retention, and academic achievement of students from racially minoritized groups historically underrepresented in STEM.
Presenting Author: Amy Sprowles
Additional Authors
Steven Margell, Kerri J. Malloy, Lisa T. Hillman, L. Chook Chook Hillman, Angela Rich, Jessica Smith, Frank Shaughnessy, Matthew P. Hurst, Sonja Manor, Borbala Mazzag, Dale Oliver, Patricia Siering, Eileen Cashman, Alison P. O’Dowd, P. Dawn Goley, Gillian Black, Katlin O. Goldenberg, and Matthew D. Johnson.
Introduction
Culturally responsive programming that incorporates the values, perspectives, cultures, and the empathy and equity matters of non-majority populations can empower students from diverse backgrounds to achieve their educational goals. This paper describes the outcomes of first-year place-based learning community students who participated in a water quality laboratory that integrates the science, culture, values, and social justice concerns of the Indigenous people of the Klamath River Basin.
We believe ours is one of the first studies that specifically examines the power of collaborating with contemporary Indigenous communities to create opportunities for first-year collegiate STEM students to participate in interdisciplinary, place-based curricular and co-curricular activities.
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The Programming
Results
Conclusion
Our Study demonstrates that weaving Indigenous science, culture, and social justice concerns into a first-year STEM curricula can engage and inspire students to overcome barriers to STEM retention and improve academic outcomes.
Though we are encouraged by our results, we hesitate to draw expansive conclusions due to the small sample size of our study and the opt-in nature of the initial iterations of Klamath Connection. Cal Poly Humboldt is in the process of launching place-based learning communities for all first-year students. This will allow us to see if similar outcomes are observed when more students participate in activities co-created with the Indigenous communities of our area. We will also evaluate if this approach is as impactful for students who were not given the choice to participate in a learning community.
Figure 1. Klamath Connection students explore the science and culture of the Karuk and Yurok people through a water quality laboratory (WQL). A. In 2002, water quality scientists of the Karuk Tribe discovered levels of Microcystis aeruginosa in the reservoirs behind the Klamath Dams nearly 100x > than the level approved by the World Health Organization. These blooms occur during the time of year that Karuk people are in and around the river gathering food, basketry materials, and performing ceremonies. B. Klamath Connection students conducted a basic eutrophication experiment to see if nitrogen is the factor limiting harmful algal blooms downstream of the dams. Students sample Klamath river water, add ammonium nitrate, and analyze their cultures for the presence of algae using relative fluorescence units (RFUs) of their cultures and microscopy.
The experiment was analyzed in first semester courses.
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Methodology
This study involved the first three cohorts of Klamath Connection Students.
97 students completed a survey and wrote a reflective essay in response to the following prompt:
Now that you have completed the water quality laboratory, worked with some of its data, and
examined its design from a critically thinking scientist's perspective, think about your own intellectual growth
over the semester. What did you think of the process back in the pre-semester experience? Do you think about
it differently now, and how? What do you think about the role of foundational disciplines
(e.g., math, botany, chemistry) in understanding complex environmental and social problems?
Have those thoughts changed since you've arrived (to campus)?
A thematic analysis was conducted on 214 essays to reveal themes related to intellectual growth and predictors
of first year student success.
University IDs were used to link themes, academic outcomes, and survey data.
Table 1. Percent students who report the water quality laboratory increased their knowledge of Native American culture, see relevance to their own communities, and believe the information has prepared them for their future careers. Students subdivided by Non-URG and URG.
Table 2. Percent of students reporting intellectual growth and psychosocial factors associated with academic success separated by those who did or not not report learning about Native American culture through the Water Quality Laboratory (WQL YES and NO, respectively) and by those who did and did not see relevance to their (your) home community (YOC YES and NO, respectively). Small Cox’s index effects ( 0.2-0.49) are represented as* , medium (0.5-0.79) as **, and large as *** (values > 0.79) (Cohen 1976).
Table 3. Impact of Learning about Native American Culture through the Water Quality Laboratory (WQL) and Seeing Parallels to Issues Faced by Native Americans to Own Communities (YOC) on GPAs and retention. Hedges’g interpretation of effect is *small (0.2-0.49), **medium (0.5-0.79), and ***large (>0.79) (Cohen 1988).
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